2019 Drivers - Best Ball Speed for Most Golfers

[Terry Gold]

Of all the new drivers for 2019 which one do you think will give the best ball speed for all players and if so why?

I love the enthusiasm for new products but ... can we please stop this? Nothing is going to have the "best ball speed" outright. Year after year it's the same crap that people buy into the marketing. This year it's ball speed. Previous years might have been a more forgiving face, moving the center of gravity, composite crowns, "we moved the weight from the hosel to the ...", smaller footprints, interchangeable weighting systems, etc. ... the golf industry is #fakenews :russian_roulette:

 

To answer your question, my guess is it would be a fitted M5/M6 with the speed injected face limiter thingy removed if what they say is actually true as it would be illegal.

Individual performance will vary but there will be some drivers that collectively perform better than others.

 

If you have 1000 monkeys hit 1000 drives with each driver then there will be some clubs that perform better (albeit marginally).

 

Perform the same monkey test another 1000 times and there will be some obvious patterns that start to emerge.

 

To suggest that every club performs exactly the same and that you can't differentiate between performance is unmitigated plop.

 

How scientific.

 

As if all monkeys swing the same after a thousand swings!

[TollBros]

All things being equal, meaning CT, true loft, face angle, head weight, shaft, tipping, length, grip, etc., anything by Taylormade, Callaway, Ping or Cobra is going to produce the highest ball speeds across the face on all hits. If you absolutely center one up and catch it perfectly, just about any drive by those above and Titleist will do the job within 2-3mph.

[ThunderBuzzworth]

2016 M2

[johnnythunders]

Mizuno st190, Mizuno st190g, Epic “the tin can flash” and Cobra F9. The rest are just not for me.

[dtc0207]

This is to easy : Hammer X

[bunta]

All things being equal, meaning CT, true loft, face angle, head weight, shaft, tipping, length, grip, etc., anything by Taylormade, Callaway, Ping or Cobra is going to produce the highest ball speeds across the face on all hits. If you absolutely center one up and catch it perfectly, just about any drive by those above and Titleist will do the job within 2-3mph.

 

I wana know why Titleist was not mentioned in your first string of brands.

[TollBros]

All things being equal, meaning CT, true loft, face angle, head weight, shaft, tipping, length, grip, etc., anything by Taylormade, Callaway, Ping or Cobra is going to produce the highest ball speeds across the face on all hits. If you absolutely center one up and catch it perfectly, just about any drive by those above and Titleist will do the job within 2-3mph.

 

I wana know why Titleist was not mentioned in your first string of brands.

 

Because, if you read the points I was making, you will see what I meant in that Titleist drivers do not match the ball speeds of the others on off center hits, but are up to par when hit very well.

 

2016 M2

 

Specificly and ONLY the 8.5 head. It's the reason the Tour went back to CT and COR testing based on complaints from other companies that the head was too hot.

[Gary Gutful]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

[Gary Gutful]

Of all the new drivers for 2019 which one do you think will give the best ball speed for all players and if so why?

I love the enthusiasm for new products but ... can we please stop this? Nothing is going to have the "best ball speed" outright. Year after year it's the same crap that people buy into the marketing. This year it's ball speed. Previous years might have been a more forgiving face, moving the center of gravity, composite crowns, "we moved the weight from the hosel to the ...", smaller footprints, interchangeable weighting systems, etc. ... the golf industry is #fakenews :russian_roulette:

 

To answer your question, my guess is it would be a fitted M5/M6 with the speed injected face limiter thingy removed if what they say is actually true as it would be illegal.

Individual performance will vary but there will be some drivers that collectively perform better than others.

 

If you have 1000 monkeys hit 1000 drives with each driver then there will be some clubs that perform better (albeit marginally).

 

Perform the same monkey test another 1000 times and there will be some obvious patterns that start to emerge.

 

To suggest that every club performs exactly the same and that you can't differentiate between performance is unmitigated plop.

 

How scientific.

 

As if all monkeys swing the same after a thousand swings!

Good point. It would also take a long time when they keep getting distracted and start throwing their own faeces at people.

[Gary Gutful]

Gary's Crappy Question - The update people have been waiting for...

 

Callaway Epic Flash/Sub zero – 6

Cobra F9 - 6

Ping G410 – 4

Titleist TS2/TS3 - 4

Mizuno ST190/ST190G – 3

Taylormade M5/M6 - 2

PXG Gen 2 – 1

TEE EXS - 1

 

It's very exciting...

[cgasucks]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

 

That is true. Good Point. In general, if you have 2 clubs that have the same max COR on the face but one clubhead is smaller than the other, ball speed will be slightly faster on the smaller head than the other because of less wind resistance.

 

The original G400 and the G400 Max are a great example. Ball Speed on the G400 will always be slightly more than its larger counterpart because of less wind resistance because of its smaller clubhead.

[3woodvt]

Michael Newton and Rick Shiels will update us all on this very soon. If not beaten to the punch by wrx individual members. Cobra appears to be in the early lead .

[radiman]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

 

That is true. Good Point. In general, if you have 2 clubs that have the same max COR on the face but one clubhead is smaller than the other, ball speed will be slightly faster on the smaller head than the other because of less wind resistance.

 

The original G400 and the G400 Max are a great example. Ball Speed on the G400 will always be slightly more than its larger counterpart because of less wind resistance because of the smaller clubhead.

 

Aerodynamics too! I know some people think all of the aerodynamic "tech" is all marketing mumbo jumbo. But, I truly could feel the G400 cut through the wind with much less resistance than any other driver I'd hit. It just sounded different throughout the swing. Don't know what numbers were being produced as it was a very short length of ownership. Some of the F9 reviews I'm seeing, some of the increased ball speed appears to be coming from an increase in club head speed.

[cgasucks]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

 

That is true. Good Point. In general, if you have 2 clubs that have the same max COR on the face but one clubhead is smaller than the other, ball speed will be slightly faster on the smaller head than the other because of less wind resistance.

 

The original G400 and the G400 Max are a great example. Ball Speed on the G400 will always be slightly more than its larger counterpart because of less wind resistance because of the smaller clubhead.

 

Aerodynamics too! I know some people think all of the aerodynamic "tech" is all marketing mumbo jumbo. But, I truly could feel the G400 cut through the wind with much less resistance than any other driver I'd hit. It just sounded different throughout the swing. Don't know what numbers were being produced as it was a very short length of ownership. Some of the F9 reviews I'm seeing, some of the increased ball speed appears to be coming from an increase in club head speed.

 

True. I remember long ago Richard Helmstetter (the inventor of the original Callaway Big Bertha and former SVP of Callaway) said that as the clubhead gets larger, clubhead speed will be slower because of wind resistance.

[radiman]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

 

That is true. Good Point. In general, if you have 2 clubs that have the same max COR on the face but one clubhead is smaller than the other, ball speed will be slightly faster on the smaller head than the other because of less wind resistance.

 

The original G400 and the G400 Max are a great example. Ball Speed on the G400 will always be slightly more than its larger counterpart because of less wind resistance because of the smaller clubhead.

 

Aerodynamics too! I know some people think all of the aerodynamic "tech" is all marketing mumbo jumbo. But, I truly could feel the G400 cut through the wind with much less resistance than any other driver I'd hit. It just sounded different throughout the swing. Don't know what numbers were being produced as it was a very short length of ownership. Some of the F9 reviews I'm seeing, some of the increased ball speed appears to be coming from an increase in club head speed.

 

True. I remember long ago Richard Helmstetter (the inventor of the original Callaway Big Bertha and former SVP of Callaway) said that as the clubhead gets larger, clubhead speed will be slower because of wind resistance.

 

Lol, I realized after I was done typing that my response pretty much echoed what you're saying.

[GoGoErky]

None because some will give it for some and not for others. With that said imo the ones that will come close for most are in order

 

G410

Ts2/3

M5/6

F8

Flash/sz

St190

 

[3woodvt]

None because some will give it for some and not for others. With that said imo the ones that will come close for most are in order

 

G410

Ts2/3

M5/6

F8

Flash/sz

St190

I agree. F8 would be 4th. F9 will be at the top now.

[3woodvt]

They're all good since all mainstream heads from major OEMs have to be at or under the legal COR limit. Because of that ball speed isn't a good indicator but smash factor is. If one hits a driver with max COR face, one should strive to get a smash factor as close to 1.50 as possible. Clubhead speed is irrelevant. To get that smash factor as high as possible, one has to hit it on the button. Lessons and practice will help, not a $500+ club.

 

Strike is king guys...strike is king.

Some clubs can be swung faster than others, can they not?

 

That is true. Good Point. In general, if you have 2 clubs that have the same max COR on the face but one clubhead is smaller than the other, ball speed will be slightly faster on the smaller head than the other because of less wind resistance.

 

The original G400 and the G400 Max are a great example. Ball Speed on the G400 will always be slightly more than its larger counterpart because of less wind resistance because of the smaller clubhead.

 

Aerodynamics too! I know some people think all of the aerodynamic "tech" is all marketing mumbo jumbo. But, I truly could feel the G400 cut through the wind with much less resistance than any other driver I'd hit. It just sounded different throughout the swing. Don't know what numbers were being produced as it was a very short length of ownership. Some of the F9 reviews I'm seeing, some of the increased ball speed appears to be coming from an increase in club head speed.

△△△△AGREE!

[ago33]

All things being equal, meaning CT, true loft, face angle, head weight, shaft, tipping, length, grip, etc., anything by Taylormade, Callaway, Ping or Cobra is going to produce the highest ball speeds across the face on all hits. If you absolutely center one up and catch it perfectly, just about any drive by those above and Titleist will do the job within 2-3mph.

 

I wana know why Titleist was not mentioned in your first string of brands.

 

Because, if you read the points I was making, you will see what I meant in that Titleist drivers do not match the ball speeds of the others on off center hits, but are up to par when hit very well.

 

2016 M2

 

Specificly and ONLY the 8.5 head. It's the reason the Tour went back to CT and COR testing based on complaints from other companies that the head was too hot.

 

So you’re telling me I should pick one up ?

[TollBros]

All things being equal, meaning CT, true loft, face angle, head weight, shaft, tipping, length, grip, etc., anything by Taylormade, Callaway, Ping or Cobra is going to produce the highest ball speeds across the face on all hits. If you absolutely center one up and catch it perfectly, just about any drive by those above and Titleist will do the job within 2-3mph.

 

I wana know why Titleist was not mentioned in your first string of brands.

 

Because, if you read the points I was making, you will see what I meant in that Titleist drivers do not match the ball speeds of the others on off center hits, but are up to par when hit very well.

 

2016 M2

 

Specificly and ONLY the 8.5 head. It's the reason the Tour went back to CT and COR testing based on complaints from other companies that the head was too hot.

 

So you’re telling me I should pick one up ?

 

It was known to pass CT but fail the original air cannon COR test, however since CT was all they tested for, it's legal. That is ONLY the 8.5 heads. The other lofts passed on both without issue, but those 8.5 heads wouldn't pass if tested now under both methods. The lower the loft, the better and hotter.

[Hookasaurus Rex]

I'll go F9, then M5/M6.... but if we go with which driver sounds the worst, The Epic Flash is a runaway winner. I've watched all the online ne reviews, and it hurts my ears just from the video. Every reviewer has mentioned its sound, and referenced the words loud and "tinny"...